Short Leash aka What's that Lassie?
by glittergoddess13
Summary: Dean annoys when he pokes fun at his unusual methods for babysitting Sam when they were kids. Sam doesn't know it meant so much more. Brotherly love, Humor, Sam's 1st defiance of John, & how the small things shaped the relationships of all the Winchester


"Dude, this isn't going to work!" Sam groaned with a grumble, resting on the open lid of the Impala's trunk.

"Hold still and I can make even you look good." Dean smarted. "Well, I can't work miracles, but still…"

"Ha...ha...ha…" Sam said deadpan. "Okay, Mary Kay! Where did you learn about make-up.?"

"I can paint the car can't I... same idea..." Dean dipped the applicator, which he named foam covered doohickey spreader thingy bob…uh… stick… when he opened the eye shadow container, in the eye shadow for the hundredth time and smeared it all over Sam. "There... masterpiece..."

Sam moved to the side mirror. "DUDE! I look Tammy Faye Baker and John Wayne Gacy had a child!"

"But that was before I..."

"Don't start. This idea's not going to work. We will have to find another way in to the all girl..."

"All girl Catholic school!" Dean corrected, smacking his lips.

Grimacing Sam gave him a stern look that would have made any nun proud. "So we can get the spirit that's haunting the dorm!"

"Sam, can you sing I feel pretty and let me post it to YouTube?"

"You enjoy being a sick jerk don't you?"

"Do you enjoy being a girl?"

"Go on...call me bitch."

"Nah, that's too easy. This is prime gold mine harassment material."

"Let's face it; neither of us will pass as girls so think of a new plan."

"My plan worked in all those movies." Dean offered.

"Things in movies don't work in real life."

"Says you. Helped me babysit your ass. Things I learned from watching Benji…Las…"

"Don't start that again."

"Lassie I called ya."

"I was three."

"What's that Sam, Timmy fell down a well..."

"Shut up..." He said quietly, wiping away the make-up spackle he was insane enough to let Dean try.

"Old man Jenkins is being eaten by a Windego... come on Lassie, let's save him."

Sam sighed. "Get in the car."

Hopping in the driver seat, Dean chuckled. From the passenger seat, Sam was less than amused. "I know you enjoy the fact you put a dog chain on me, but do you think you can pry yourself out of your stupidity to drive. I say again I WAS THREE!"

"Sure, just let me roll down the window so you can stick your head out. And if you pee in that seat…."

"I refuse to dignify... well anything you say with a response. I'm getting some sleep, so see if you can get us to Maine without too much effort on your part."

"Ha ha... Lassie..." Dean chuckled.

"DEAN!"

"I'm going. I'm going."

"And it was just once, so you would think you would not be so amused after all that time."

"When you got a classic like that. It never gets old. Course, you didn't seem interested in the chew toy, but you took to the leash."

"This is just sounding disturbing and gross now. GOODNIGHT DEAN!"

"Night Rin Tin Tin."

Sam groaned as he rolled over to face the window.

"That's a good boy, Roll over... play dead."

"Less talking and more shut the hell up please."

Dean laughed again just for Sam's benefit, but to him the story of the worse babysitting experience of his life was not as humorous as he had eluded it to be.

**-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x**

* * *

"Where do babies come from?" An innocent little voice asked.

"From Mom," Dean replied hastily as he scratched his head nervously.

"What about Daddy?" Sam looked up at him with big, innocent eyes.

"Ummm...them too..."

"I don't get it. How?" he asked in almost a whine. Then the three-year-old attached himself to Dean's ankle again, begging to be dragged around the motel room for the zillionth time that day. "HORSEY RIDE!" He screamed.

If it would get Sam to stop asking so many questions, Dean would have done anything. So as any great big brother should, Dean ran around the room with difficulty just to keep Sam amused today.

"I gotta go potty..." Sam said softly as he tugged at Dean's sleeve. He crossed his legs and bounced up and down anxiously.

"So go. You know how."

Sam bolted toward the restroom as Dean thanked God that Sam was potty trained. At 7, Dean felt he knew everything and intended on making sure Sam would be just as wise when he reached that grown-up age. Dean had all the answers, of that he was sure. Except he didn't have a clue where his Dad was or why he had been gone this long.

This was the longest time that John had left Sam in his care. Actually, Dean was worried. John said he would be back after two days and it had been two weeks. Dean had snuck out two days ago and got some homeless bum to pawn one of his baseball cards. Dean was careful to go inside and let the bum pretend to be his father and handle the money himself. After a quick twenty bucks the guy didn't even complain about the quick 300 in Dean's pocket.

At least, he and Sam were fed now. Take out and deliveries by the ton. They even broke the number one rule and ventured out to the local sundry store several times this week alone.

After Sam finished his potty emergency, he lay on the brightly carpeted floor. "I wanna go outside."

"Not now, I'm too tired to watch you."

"I can do it."

"No, Dad would kill me." Dean sat in the chair and looked off bleary eyed, watching Sam roll around on the floor before finding two of his toys under the motel bed. He began the epic battle of the two dinosaurs in his hands, which apparently took the whole motel to accomplish. No surface was safe from Sam's reptilian battle.

Dean sighed and started looking for a number and place to deliver lunch in the phone book. When he glanced away for that brief second, Sam had dumped an entire can of red-finger paint on the table and was running around touching everything with little red hands.

"SAM!"

"Opps"

"Little monster." Dean muttered as he mopped the last of the finger paint off the furniture. He dragged Sam to the sink Sam and continued to mutter as he made his way to the bathroom, pausing here and there to scrub red hand prints off the walls.

"Brat." He murmured as washed his hands.

"Dean?" Sam sniffled, when Dean looked angrily at him.

"Sorry, Sammy. I'm just tired. Go on and play." Dean said, even though we was a bit torked off at John for being gone so long and the stress of these two weeks. He couldn't let his brother or his father down. It was his duty to take care of the family now. Mom would want that, he often thought.

Just today, Sam wasn't making the load any easier. He had already been Tarzan, complete with chest beating, yelling, and swinging on anything not tied down. There had been two alien invasions and one astronaut landing The energy inside of Sam knew no bounds as the toddler ran around the room since early that morning. Of course, Sam had found the Lucky Charm stash and munched half a box before Dean got it from Sam's sticky fingers. Add the countless hours for the two weeks where Sam had tore around like mad, shrieked, giggled in high pitched tones, and created multiple messes, it was just a bit much for Dean to handle.

A sharp yank on his hair brought him back to reality. "EWOWOOO!" cried Dean, instantly turning around to face Sam, who had dared to touch his hair.

The little toddler sat behind him, pointing at Dean with one of his chubby little hands and a handful of hair in the other."Why is your hair that color?" he said innocently, giggling at Dean's shocked expression.

"No more questions for now."

"Kay!" He said, a large grin appearing on his face. Before Dean could stop him, Sam ran around at top speed, bolting for the door. In seconds, Sam was loose to reign terror on the neighborhood.

Dean stood alone in the room, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide in shock. As fast as he could, Dean ran after his brother, hoping to stop the toddler before any major damage was caused.

Sam was bolting for the side street, running towards the road he and Dean had walked on their trips to the store.

Suddenly, Dean was scared and wished for his father to come back, but he didn't. Dean ran, hoping his much longer legs would get him to Sam before he got hurt. Then, as if he predicted doom, he heard the roar of the engine. "SAM STOP!" His little heart seemed to pound through his rib cage and bang around aimlessly from worry. Even though Dean couldn't see the metal beast that roared, it would be on Sam before any driver could stop.

"Sam!" He screamed louder than he thought possible. Sam ignored it, although the voice sounded desperate. He ignored it until he heard a roar and the screech of tires. "Sam!" Dean cried. He threw Sam to the ground with a last minute charge as the truck moved and passed them. Both, boys breathed heavily on the sidewalk.

Sam sat on the ground, crying his eyes out.

"Get up, it's over now." Dean said.

The innocent looking child glanced up with teary eyes. "I...I'm sor...sorry!"

"It's okay. You're safe." He greeted his baby brother with a smile.

"I wanna play outside and..."

"I know… I know…Okay, I have an idea, but you have to promise to hold my hand all the way to the store. You know that empty lot we found before, you can play there okay? Far away from traffic."

"Kay." He sniffled with a snort.

"But, you have to do what I say...okay?"

"Kay," Sam said excitedly.

**-x-x-xx-x-xx-x-xx-x**

* * *

Dean tiptoed to look taller at the counter as he had done every time he came to the sundry store. He dragged Sam back and forth in the aisles to the counter, refusing to let Sam go. Finally, he added a fistful of candy to his neat stack. One dog chain, four sodas, five candy bars, a bag of chips, and one comic book were neatly placed in a brown paper bag.

"So, boys... what adventure are you fellows on." The elderly cashier asked, her bright blue bun bobbed as she asked.

"We're going to go play!" Sam said, swinging Dean's hand happily.

"Hmm...Sounds like fun. Do you think I could play?" The cashiered teased. "I make a pretty good pirate."

"Nah, we're going to play cops. I'm Office Sam."

The cashier laughed, noticing Sam missed his R on the end of officer."Well, I better be careful. Don't want to get arrested."

"Officer…" Dean corrected. "Officer Sam."

"Oh."

She looked sad at the two boys before her. "Where's your parents?"

"Mama died." Sam said, still swinging Dean's hand, not understanding the full impact of his mother's death.

Dean panicked and tinged with sorrow, but knew adults didn't ask questions without reason. He made up a lie quick. "Yeah, it's just Dad and us. He lets us get all the treats we want now."

He saw the woman gulp, knowing she was having just the reaction he wanted her to. Maybe, his Dad was right about him being a natural. He beamed. "Dad's the greatest."

"Dad's not he..." Sam started and Dean kicked him.

"Come on, we have to get going so we can go play baseball with Dad." He shoved Sam as he tossed bills on the counter, prompting the boy to move.

**-x-xx-x-x-xx**

* * *

A few attempts at latching the pressure claw around Sam's belt loop failed miserably, but on the fifth try, Dean securely attached the metal to Sam's blue jeans.

"Whatcha doin'?

"Making sure you can't get away from me. So, you can run around without gettin' hurt."

"Why'd you lie about Dad…he left us…and ..."

"Cause...we have to be careful around adults. They would take you away and we won't be together."

"No...no...they can't..."

"The can, so just follow me okay and be quiet when I go to the store, okay?"

"Kay!" Sam said and whirled as Dean tried to attach the other chain end fastener to the abandoned clothes line of the empty lot.

When it clicked around the wire, he let Sam loose. "Okay. Run now."

"Ahhh..." Sam screamed.

"What!?" Dean alarmed.

"I'm hunting dinosaucers."

"Dinosaurs... not saucers."

"Oh... Okay, I'm doing what you told me...I was scared when I saw it..." Sam whirled around the pole as if hiding. "Then I heard it... the bush..." He whirled again. "DEAN!" he cried, and then stared attentively for any signs of movement from the nearby shrubs.

He left Sam to it and rustled some junk food out of the bag. After about an hour of watching Sam run around a pole, getting himself tangled and untangled, he finally wondered if the sugar had wore off. "So when do you plan on getting tired." Dean asked, refueling on a candy bar.

"I want candy."

"You've had too much junk…"

"PLEEEAASE!" Sam replied.

Dean took a deep breath and dug in the bag. "Here... now go eat and play while I read my comic."

"You not supposed to get..."

"And you're not supposed to be outside or have candy."

"Oh..."

"So we will won't tell Dad about any of it. Deal?"

"Deal kay!" Sam ran the length of the clothes line, turned and ran back.

"Call me if you are going to die." He said flatly, and left Sam to run out his energy

He sat on the ground, looking that the graphic art of Green Lantern and Green Arrow, his eyes soaking in the vivid hues of having a new comic. He must have read it 10 times while Sam whirled around the clothes line and poles. He was actually drifting off to sleep, which he hasn't done in a long time, when he heard a squeal. He hurriedly got up, and ran to the source.

"Sam?" He called and found the kid, rolling on the ground, laughing and giggling. "I wasn't dying!" Sam said and he grabbed Dean, hugging with an iron grip. "This is the best day eber!"

"Wasn't yesterday the best day EBER!"

"Yeah. That one."

"What about Tuesday?"

"Yeah! Best Day too!"

"It would be the best day if Dad would come back soon."

"No…best day is just us." He hugged him brother again. "Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm tired."

Suddenly, Dean laughed. Soon Sam joined him and they were both wiping away tears of laughter. "I'm tired too. It's getting late and we better go."

**-x-x-x-xx-x**

* * *

"Brush your teeth!" Dean said as he rolled the dog chain up and shoved it in his duffel. Then he heard a car growl. It was the most beautiful sound ever. Dean jumped up, peered out the curtain. "Dad's home!"

"Kay." Sam said unimpressed.

Dean opened the door before John could even get to it. "Dad?"

"Kiddo, are you both okay?" John limped a bit.

"What happened?"

"Nothing too bad, but I was gone..."

"I took care of it..." Dean said and John smiled.

"Good."

"Dean's the bestest!" Sam uttered looking cross at John. He crossed over, grabbed Dean's hand, gave John a defiant look, and informed Dean it was passed his bedtime. "You're tired... member?"

"He can sleep after he unloads the car." John said.

"No… now!" Sam demanded.

"Samuel Winchester! What has gotten in to you?"

"It's okay Sammy, go to bed." Dean turned, and schlepped towards the car. Sam glared at John, "You bad DADDY!" He screamed and kicked John."

"SAM!" John screeched.

Dean stepped between them and gave Sam a look, and then turned to face his father. "He's just tired, Dad. Bad day." He flashed a pitiful smile and pushed Sam away from John as he stepped back. "I'll get the car in order."

"No… Bad Daddy!" Sam said again, and then toddled after Dean, grabbing his brother's hand and going to the car with him.

It didn't take long for Dean to square away the items in the car and he made Sam crawl in the back seat, asking him to check for wrappers to keep him from seeing the weapons horde. When he was finished, he hopped in the back and Sam was already asleep.

"DAD!" Dean yelled, knowing he couldn't carry Sam on his own.

"What's wrong, sport?" He asked, but stopped when he saw his youngest son sleeping. He shifted in and balanced Sam on one arm, then stopped to scoop Dean up too.

"Dad?" Dean questioned.

"Come on, you both need a good night's rest."

"I'm glad you're home." Dean yawned as he spoke and settled in on John's shoulder.

"Me too."

* * *

**_Author's note: A short one from me! I knows its odd, but I had to write this. And the Sad part is I now have an idea to continue this and make it bigger. I may need some professional help. I can't keep ideas out of my head for a second. Well, I may continue this if you like it, but as it is... its a one shot._**


End file.
